Seed company BASF displayed a number of new healthy and sustainable products at this year's Fruit Attraction in Madrid, under the slogan 'Vegetables People Love'.
With health a key purchasing driver, particularly in the pandemic era, one of the products BASF was keen to present was its new RedNoir tomato.
“This is a product with a series of distinguishing characteristics in both its external and internal appearance as well as in its organoleptic properties” explained Francisco Solera, Iberia country sales manager, BASF VS.
It is a tomato with black skin, round-shaped, almost spherical, and a size of between 70-90g. Crucially, it boasts has a high concentration of lycopene, anthocyanin and vitamin C, with an umami flavour.
“When you cut it open, it is all flesh” Solera noted. 'And it is precisely inside where the greatest value of RedNoir resides. It has a high nutrient content and it is a natural source of antioxidant.”
BASF is currently developing RedNoir exclusively with Unica, which also but it said that it remained open to new companies that 'want to promote tomatoes and contribute to improving eating habits'.
The company also announced a new advisory strategy to help it decide which lettuce or spinach variety best suited farmer and sales company needs, depending on the conditions of their farmland.
In the specific case of spinach, and faced with the damping off problems observed in recent production years, BASF said it had closely collaborated with producers to design effective strategies combining the most suitable growing techniques and varieties in each case.
“Our aim is to offer them the most appropriate variety always bearing in mind their needs and the determining factors of the crop” Solera continued.
With year-round availability and convenience high on the list of consumer priorities, BASF showcased its Sunup melon, described as similar to a cantaloupe but with a different rind colour.
'The Sunup range shows when the fruit is ripe, going from a pale yellow to an attractive golden colour,' the group explained. 'Using this concept, BASF has varieties that can be grown in Senegal, Morocco, Brazil and Honduras, thus guaranteeing all-year-round supply.'
